A popular monthly market held at Wickham Park in Islington has closed for business.
The Newcastle and Hunter Region Vietnam Veterans Market, also known as Islington Market or Wickham Park Market, has attracted bargain hunters to the park on the last Sunday of the month for the past three decades.
Newcastle and Hunter Region Vietnam Veterans, who organised the market to raise money for veteran welfare, have decided not to renew their licence to run the market with City of Newcastle.
Sunday's market has also been cancelled.
"Unfortunately the OBE has got to us," Newcastle and Hunter Region Vietnam Veterans committee member Allan Crumpton said.
"Over bloody 80.
"We simply don't have enough of our fellows to continue on with the markets."
A post by Mr Crumpton on Facebook about the decision not to renew the market's license was met with dismay by stallholders and shoppers alike.
"I'm not all that brilliant with Facebook, I don't normally use it, but the task fell on me to put things on Facebook about the market," he said.
"I put up a post last week about not renewing the licence and I got so many phone calls asking are they on, are they off, so I posted again last night.
"In recent months there's been between 100 and 120 stallholders at the market, which started at least 35 years ago.
"We used to run the barbecue at the markets but we needed 10 or a dozen people to do that, so we stopped doing that a couple of years ago and have instead been going around collecting money.
"But now we're running out of people to do that, too."
Mr Crumpton thanked the many stallholders, volunteers and community members who attended the markets each month, and said talks were continuing with "a couple of organisations" who are interested in running a market at Wickham Park.
Nathan Bell was one of the market's regular stallholders. He fears its closure will prevent him from expanding his small business.
"As a local artist seeking to gain credibility by selling in a professional setting, the Wickham Park market has presented an affordable option to me," he told the Newcastle Herald.
"Many of the other markets around Newcastle charge substantially more for a stall, which makes them unaffordable for small-time sellers seeking to enter into trading.
"I am supported to attend these markets by the creative arts focused NDIS service Rely-Ability. At the markets, I sell products created by myself and several other clients at our service. I do the Wickham Park markets and Adamstown markets to gain exposure for my products and to expand our audience."
